


Catch me if I fall

by niamcuddles



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Frottage, M/M, Smut, never thought id use specific smut tags lmao
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-11
Updated: 2015-03-11
Packaged: 2018-03-31 18:40:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3988579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/niamcuddles/pseuds/niamcuddles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Liam's been getting hate lately and sensible as he is, he's taking it to heart.</p><p>Luckily Niall is there to mend the broken pieces.</p><p> </p><p>(This is a prompt I've received on tumblr)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Catch me if I fall

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, I don't usually write oneshots but I decided to give this one a shot, it's after [this](http://niallscuddly.tumblr.com/post/119143962836/so-um-i-really-wanted-to-read-a-fic-about-liam) prompt that I have received on tumblr!
> 
> Please do let me know what you think, I'd be happy to hear it, especially because I'm not used to writing oneshots!

"Payno, you alright?" The question only caused Liam to sigh if anything, barely even bothering to draw his eyes away from his phone, not even for a second. He couldn't need any of the boys to coddle him now, they had already done enough of that during the last few days.

"'m fine…" Was all he could bring himself to answer, pretending to be more caught up in the text messages to his mum than he had ever truly been, it's not like she was even awake or anything, it was just something to pass the time.

"Doesn't look like it, mate. Wanna watch a movie or anything? Don't think I could go to sleep now, still pumped from the show, but I'm also knackered, isn't that a weird combinat-"

"Niall, honestly, I'm trying to concentrate." Liam cut him off, not even feeling bad for it or anything, of course he had known which of the boys had approached him while he was lying in the back of the bus after their concert, not even having bothered to shower or change his clothes. Not like that could change anything.

"So? What're you concentrating on?" Niall was the hardest to get rid of, always, both because he sometimes didn't get the hint but also because it was very hard to find arguments whenever he had gotten something into his head. Lately, that seemed to be getting onto Liam's nerves.

The blonde boy let himself fall into the empty space next to Liam, of course way too close, their legs were brushing even as the older one tried to move away slightly, not exactly needing Niall to read his text message over his shoulder. "My phone… Ni, look, I'm really tired, alright? I'm just gonna send this to my mum and then get some sleep."

"Yeah, me too, I was just thinking maybe you wanted to hang out for a bit, Lou and Haz are watching a movie but I've already seen it a hundred times. Oh, tell your mum I said hi." Of course he had been reading along, simply fitting his body right up next to Liam, his cheek pressed right into his shoulder, apparently not even wanting to leave the tiniest bit of distance between them. It's not like Liam didn't know why, but if he kept avoiding a confrontation, maybe that would make it not real. 

"Alright, I'm gonna go now, think I'll sleep in the hotel." Now that Niall was here, probably ready to bug him the whole night through, or even worse, fall asleep before him and start snoring or something, Liam quickly needed to rearrange his plans. Really, this was nothing personal at all, this boy was his best friend, but there were still certain things Liam would have rather kept to himself. And no matter how many times Niall was gonna ask, that was still not gonna make him talk.

"Oh, alright. If you change your mind though, just text me or something." Yeah, Liam wasn't gonna do that, but he managed something like a smile at his younger bandmate, pushing himself into a sitting pushing and pocketing his phone while standing up. "Hey, Liam?"

"What's the matter?" Actually, he had just planned on simply leaving without another word, but of course Niall needed to stop him in the middle of it, having him suppress a sigh while barely turning around, already regretting it when he saw that Niall was furrowing his eyebrows.

"If anything was up… you'd tell me, right?" As if he didn't know that something was up or that Liam was lying when he nodded automatically, too done with this topic as to think of a real answer anymore.

"Sure." Then he turned to leave once more, well aware that Niall's facial expression had fallen at his words, leaving him feeling slightly guilty, but not enough as to where he would have apologized.

The second before Liam was about to leave the part of the bus to get outside, Niall spoke up once more, a little so Liam could still hear him, his voice strangely cheerful in contrast to before. No one could say this boy wasn't trying his best. "Okay, just wanted to make sure. Love you!"

 _How could you?_ Liam thought, not giving an answer though as he slipped out of the bus, the cool air feeling good on his still slightly sweaty skin, barely distracting him from his stomach twisting into knots though.

He knew it would've been better for him to talk to Niall, or just hang out with him, let him babble on about whatever it was he always seemed to want to talk about so desperately, but he just couldn't do it, not now, not when this was still too prominent on his mind.

 

——————

 

The next day, Liam barely managed to roll out of bed in time, something that rarely happened to him, but actually had the past few days, thanks to a few way too long nights filled with unnecessary worrying. Or maybe it hadn't been that unnecessary after all.

There was nothing planned except for an interview, one that'd only get recorded and not filmed, so Liam figured it'd be fine to simply slip on a pair of sweatpants and a somewhat clean smelling shirt. He had managed to shower last night before lying in bed, only debating for a few minutes before grabbing his phone once more, the bright screen being the only light source in the room as he had scrolled through Twitter. A very poor decision.

"Liam! Come on, hurry, the other lads are already in the van." Paddy almost scared the crap out of Liam as he walked into the hallways, obviously having been seconds from breaking down the door, giving him a strange look now as they walked towards the elevators together. "You don't look good, are you getting sick?"

"No, I just couldn't sleep, I'll be fine though when we get there, promise." Getting sick wouldn't have been a good idea right now, Liam didn't feel too healthy, true, but he really couldn't need the other guys babying him even more than they had already been trying to do. 

"Alright, just try to be on time again from now on." Giving his bodyguard a simple nod to signal that he had understood while at the same time thinking that he didn't really care, his mind way too caught up with last night. Liam really needed to stop actively searching for it, it had been over a week, he should have already shrugged it off by now, not like it had never happened before.

"… then I told him he needs to piss off and- Liam, where've you been?" Louis cut himself off mid sentence as Liam climbed into the back of the car, falling into the empty space next to Harry, hoping that his face wasn't giving him right away like it already had before. 

"Didn't hear my alarm, sorry you had to wait." For only ten minutes, it was no big deal, in contrast to that though, it was even harder to avoid looking any of them directly into the eyes, Niall especially since he was sitting opposite of him, shamelessly staring like he always did.

"No, it's fine, we were just worried, is all. Are you okay?" There it was again, Liam almost sighed but was able to hold back in the end, just throwing a quick look over at Louis, barely managing to keep up the forced smile. Of course they were pissed at him, it was never fun having to wait, they just didn't think that he was able to take their slight anger so they were hiding it.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Everyone shut up after that question, which, honestly, was a tiny bit awkward when they all just sat there as the van started, none of them wanting to answer the question and the brunette boy deciding that he didn't care enough to switch the topic. 

Instead, he sat there, staring out of the window for the whole ride, even when the other boys picked up the conversation again.

When they got to the location, everything was full of screaming fans, they could hear them even before the car had fully stopped, Liam's stomach already turning at the thought of having to get out, having pictures taken of him. He got this, he could do this, he would just keep his head down and-

"You think we should take a few selfies, like… haven't done that in a while, 'm sure they'd be happy. Let's ask if there's enough barriers." Of course someone needed to ruin Liam's plan, although… that didn't mean anything, he could still simply walk into the building and then… well, the consequences of that weren't very new to Liam. 

"Yeah, let's do that, gotta make sure everyone gets a picture of my new hat." Niall's throaty laugh had everyone join, even Liam tried to not look too much as if though he was attending a funeral, for a moment shaking his head a little bit over his blonde bandmate. His hair was hidden underneath some snapback that said a few not so appropriate words on the front, Liam had no idea where he had gotten that or why, but he was very obviously proud of it. Which would probably result in him wearing it for 2 months straight.

"Good, so everyone in, yeah?" There was Liam's chance to pull out, Louis looked around right as the van stopped, not really leaving them any chance to properly answer before someone opened the door, the others did nod though if Liam saw correctly from the corner of his eyes. Well, if he hadn't agreed, no one could be mad at him either, it's not like they were too happy with him anyways.

It was mad outside the car, the sunlight hit Liam hard in the eyes as he slipped out into the open as the very last one, quickly checking where the other boys were off to, his eyes scanning a few of the fans' faces, their screams ringing in his ears. 

See, that was the thing, Liam somehow felt an urge to do it, to follow the others and sign a few things, take pictures, but right when he was about to follow, he hesitated for a second, last night coming back to his mind all of a sudden, and then pretty much every night before that, and what had happened a week ago and… no. He couldn't do it.

Finding a security guard wasn't hard since they were all around him anyways, quickly letting them know he wanted to go inside right away was even easier, immediately having a hand on his back guiding him as he kept his head down, not really in the mood for any paps shooting a picture, using the hoodie he had brought to somehow shield his body a bit. At least from his neck downwards.

The screams immediately died down drastically once inside, Liam barely wanted to throw a look back honestly, he just listened to some instructions from one of the crew members, nodding along while waiting for the other boys to get inside.

They wouldn't be pleased of course, but then again, Liam didn't really care, it's not like getting snapped at or anything was new, he'd understand the lads anyways, they had a right to be mad at him and why wouldn't they? He was behaving like a fucking douche all the time anyways and they were just pretending to care when in reality, they were probably more than annoyed by now.

Harry was the first to be done, his reaction to seeing Liam already waiting wasn't too big though, that was just him, things like that didn't really cause anything in him, it was when Louis and Niall came back a good few minutes later that their glances at Liam were unmistakable, faces quickly changing from smiles into frowns.

"I thought we agreed that we would _all_ -"

"Boys, we have no time, it's a tight schedule, come on." Luckily Louis got caught off, giving Liam the chance to pretend like it hadn't been directed towards him, trying to let himself fall behind a bit as they were lead off to another room, his stomach twisting into knots as he thought about how the fans were gonna react to this. Surely, it couldn't be any worse than it usually was anyways.

When a hand unexpectedly wrapped around Liam's wrist, the brunette boy almost jumped at the sudden touch, he had been a bit lost in thoughts, not expecting anyone to walk as slowly as he did. 

"You can't forever hide from your own fans, you know." It was Niall, of course, half whispering into Liam's ear as they were walking, his fingers still gripping tightly onto the older boy even as he tried to pull away. "I won't let you, I won't allow that this is still dragging you down."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Liam whispered back, maybe a tiny bit too harsh, but it didn't discourage Niall in any way, in fact, the brunette boy could feel his breath hitting his ear when he leaned in a bit too far, sending a few goosebumps down his spine.

"You sure do, Li, we're gonna talk about this, I don't care if I have to confiscate your phone." A short, humorless laugh escaped Liam at that, finally managing to free his hand from Niall's grip, but only because the blonde boy let go out of his own will. "I'm serious, Payno,'m not jokin' around with this, we're gonna have a talk, whether you like it or not."

"And about what? Nothing's going on, I don't even know what-"

"Stop it. The lads and I care about you, we're not mad, but don't do this, don't try to shut us out." But how could Liam have not? Sure, he was said to be the sensible one, but sometimes it sucked to always get so emotionally involved so quickly and then talking about it suddenly wasn't so easy anymore either, especially not when it was something like this. "Come talk to me after this is over. I love you, okay?"

"You don't." It just slipped out somehow, Liam hadn't even been thinking about it, but he could see Niall's face dropping once it was out, quickly thinking about how he could cover it up when… when actually, he saw no reason to. 

"Liam-"

But then Niall was cut off once they finally reached the right room and Liam made sure not to meet his eyes again, quickly slipping in after Harry to shake their interviewer's hand, putting his fake smile on that he been training for the past few days. It only felt slightly uncomfortable by now.

The fact that they weren't being recorded wasn't only good for Liam but then also for Niall, the blonde had a slight frown on his face all the way through the interview, him and Liam both sitting on one end each, furthest apart, which of course didn't stop him though.

Towards the end, the interviewer got out some fan questions, which maybe Liam should have tried to answer since he hadn't been talking a lot during the past few minutes, but he somehow wasn't quick enough. "Alright, next question… who do you go to when you're feeling down?"

"Liam, definitely Liam." Niall shot out like it had been scripted, causing all of them to turn their heads towards him, which didn't bring him off track in any way though, he just carried on as if it had been planned all along. Which was impossible though, they hadn't known any of the fan questions. "He's just really good to talk to and he always listens, sometimes his advice is a little questionable, but he always manages to cheer me up somehow, even if it's just a hug, you know. He's just got this warm aura, it's like hugging a teddy bear, I swear."

For a moment or two, Liam almost felt like smiling a little bit before he started to really think about Niall's exact choice of words, immediately feeling a tug to his stomach, it was dumb, yeah, but somehow it wasn't. Niall wouldn't have done that on purpose, would he? Comparing him to a teddy, which usually weren't exactly… in good shape. 

"Okay, last one, who's working out the most?" Liam was only listening with one ear bow really, getting more beaten down by the second as he replayed Niall's words in his head, not really being able to see any good aspect about it anymore after a minute only.

"Liam as well, actually. He goes mad when he misses a work out session, but it pays off as well, so maybe we should all take him as an example." The others agreed to what Harry had said while Liam felt a slight anger boiling up in him, they were clearly doing this on purpose, it wasn't what they were really thinking, which became even more obvious when Louis took it a step too far.

"So really, Liam's just the best member of the band, you know." Then he let out a laugh at the end, a very sarcastic one if Liam may say so, not daring to look anywhere else now except for his lap, he just wanted this to be over so he could go back to his hotel room. Of course they were gonna drag this out, of course they were gonna make fun of him now, he deserved it anyways.

"Do you agree with that, Liam?" The question directed towards him kinda brought Liam a bit out of his concept, he barely managed to clear his throat or come up with a smart answer, everything in his brain just screaming at him to get up and leave.

"Uh… not really, actually. There's no better or worse member, you know…" Had that even fitted the question? Honestly, Liam decided that it didn't matter, at least he had said something nice and non sarcastic compared to the others, hardly paying attention as the interview was wrapped up and they all shook the woman's hand again, hardly any time passing before they were already ushered outside again.

Maybe the fans were all right, sure, he had always gotten hate, all of them had, but ever since he had gained a few pounds, people had almost lost their minds when they had seen shirtless pictures of Liam about a week ago. And not in a good way, because they still hadn't stopped, suddenly coming up with different things they could criticize Liam for as well, he saw it, every night, he would scroll through twitter and there was nothing but hate, for anything by now really.

Of course all the lads knew about it, but Liam had been brushing it off, trying to escape their sudden affection and ways to cheer him up or whatever. What they didn't know though was that he was continuing to look at the hate and it'd be a lie to say he hadn't started to believe some of the stuff the fans were saying, to a point where he would even question his own friends' actions.

 

——————

 

"Liam, if you don't open that fucking door, I swear to god you're gonna regret it! What the hell is the matter, you didn't even talk on the way back and now you locked yourself in, what happened since we talked?!" 'Talking' was a nice description of Niall grabbing Liam's wrist to keep him from leaving and then telling him complete and utter bullshit before making fun of him during a bloody interview, he could bang on that door for as long as he wanted to.

"Fuck off, Niall, I don't wanna talk, alright?" In fact, Liam had to fight hard to keep his voice from breaking, he hadn't even had the chance yet to check Twitter, but it'd surely add up to the pain. Louis making fun of him wasn't so abnormal, but it really hurt with Niall, especially because what he had been saying had started out so nice, Liam had been right before, when he hadn't believed the blonde boy's words. It's just… they've always been the closest, and now Niall would do something like this? 

"Well, but we are going to talk, whether you like it or not, I don't care if I have to yell it all across the hallway for everyone to hear, you're gonna listen to me now!" He sounded really angry, the banging only increasing if anything, apparently having no intentions of ever stopping.

"Just leave, I don't need you to pretend to care." Especially not right after backstabbing Liam, what the hell was he even thinking?!

" _Pretending_?! Who do you think I am, I'm your best fucking friend, open the door now or I'm gonna get a second key from downstairs, I swear I will." He wasn't playing around, no one would question Niall for asking for a key to one of their rooms, there was nothing Liam wanted to do less than have a conversation with anyone right now, but he really had no choice except for getting up.

"What exactly do you want from me?!" Trying to sound harsh instead of exhausted and beaten down, Liam had a hard time keeping his facade up when he half ripped the door open in anger, immediately staring into Niall's slightly flushed face. Talking to him like this, face to face, surely wasn't gonna end in his favor.

"Finally." Without another word, the blonde boy simply pushed past Liam, ignoring that he had been trying to block the door a little bit, stopping in the middle of the room with his arms crossed in front of his chest, looking angrier than Liam had ever seen him. "So?"

"So what?" Closing the door with a sigh so maybe not everyone would hear them, Liam suddenly didn't dare to step closer anymore, Niall seemed to be furious for whatever reason, even if he had no right to. 

"So what's all that bullshit, Liam? You don't wanna meet fans anymore, you constantly look beaten down and now this! We all know what's going on, Li, it's not a secret and we can all see that it's getting to you more than it should, why can't we just talk about it?" How should it not have gotten to Liam though, part of the things were true after all… or most of it actually, he could already already imagine the mean stuff online for being the only one who had not stopped for pictures. And they were right after all, he had been an asshole, and a coward.

"I just don't want to, okay? And anyways, why do you even care? You just made a right joke about it in the interview and before when you-"

"What joke did I make, Liam? I was bloody serious, you know that, right? You know I come to you when I'm feeling sad." Niall looked seriously confused for a second, which had Liam hesitating for a moment, searching for the right words because he knew that they had all secretly been making fun of him after all.

"But there was no need to include that hugging me is like hugging a teddy bear, and then Harry too, he obviously goes more often to the gym than I do and it doesn't pay off for me apparently, and anyways, I know you were all making fun of it. So don't pretend you are here to talk about it, or tell me bullshit about being my best friend and loving me because you clearly don't mean any of that or you wouldn't have done that." There it was, a huge relief spread in Liam's chest once it was out, he did avoid Niall's eyes very carefully though as he walked past him to go sit on the bed, getting his phone out of his pockets when there was no answer for a little while. That couldn't mean anything good, but not that Liam cared, right?

"Liam, I… I didn't think you'd be hurt by that, by any of it, we were trying to cheer you up, you know?" Of course that's what he was gonna say, Liam rolled his eyes to himself, ignoring how soft Niall's voice had gotten all of a sudden, or how the mattress gave in a little as the blonde boy sat down next to him, more carefully though, for once even keeping appropriate distance. "What I said had nothing to do with your weight, I wasn't thinking about any of this, I was just saying how I truly feel. And to clarify this, with teddy bear I meant you're good to cuddle with."

"Yeah, because I'm fat." There it was, Liam had been thinking this a few times already, when he hadn't been able to look past the hate anymore because it had gotten quite a lot, but he had never admitted how much of it he really believed, especially in front of one of the lads. 

Niall didn't answer immediately, so the older boy just kept on pretending to do something on his phone, trying to resist tapping on his twitter app, even if it was tempting, being stopped with his thumb hovering over it when Niall's soft voice distracted him. "You're not fat, Liam."

"You don't have to try and tell me otherwise, I'm not stupid, I know I gained weight and I shouldn't have taken my shirt off, no one needed to see that. And they are right, sometimes I do act like a proper idiot, today for example I was the only one who didn't take any pictures, and anyways, I always say the wrong things on twitter and people twist my words and it just makes everything even worse, I… they're right, Niall, or otherwise there wouldn't be so many people saying the same things." There were thousands of them actually, Liam had never even known until he had started to search for it, feeling more than just vulnerable now after having confessed his true feeling like this. Surely, Niall couldn't argue with that, he knew that Liam was right after all, that the fans were right. "It's fine if you don't say anything, we all know it's the truth."

"It's not the truth, Li, not even close, I…" His voice had gotten quieter now, words more carefully chosen as he broke off in between, he almost sounded hurt actually, as if this had just been a personal insult. "I'm so fucking angry at you."

"What?!" Liam's neck almost snapped as he looked over at Niall, half expecting him to be mad, but his face was just really sad if anything, of course not helping to calm Liam down, if anyone had a right to be angry, it was him! "This has nothing to do with you, why-"

"It sure does, Li! I'm fucking angry because you thought I was making fun of your weight in an _interview_ and that I was lying when I said you're my best friend and that I love you! And most of all…" Breaking off in the middle, Niall suddenly reached out for the older boy, his expression so pained that Liam quickly shut his mouth, not even thinking about pushing Niall away when he leaned in close, grabbing a handful of Liam's hair in the front, pulling gently. "Most of all because you didn't tell me how much this is getting to you. I didn't know you were starting to believe all that crap people are saying, we all know none of it it is true, they're just jealous twats, we all get that kinda hate. And I know you've been getting the nastier ones lately, but that doesn't make them true. They want you to believe them, and if you do, you're letting them win."

"I… well, the hate you guys get is bullshit, but the hate I get is different, and it's more personal and… and I didn't believe them at first, but… but they're just right, I just gotta look into a mirror to see it." Niall's fingers brushing through his hair was slightly distracting, Liam tried to take an even breath when he felt them massaging his scalp in the way he liked, trying not to look into his bandmate's baby blue eyes because they were full of pity now. "And you know… management even told me to cut back on my tweets a bit, because I have been saying quite a bit bullshit and… and regarding the other stuff, I… you know the hoodie I was always wearing at the beginning of tour?"

"Yeah… what about it?" Niall was rightfully confused for a second, still brushing through Liam's hair, in a somewhat even rhythm now, not even stopping when Liam took a quite shaky breath, suddenly feeling like he might break out into tears because of how embarrassed and stupid he felt.

"Well, I… I can't really wear it anymore because… because it doesn't look good anymore… " On Liam at least, it surely would have looked good on any of the other lads because they were all in shape, especially on Niall. "So yeah…" 

Again, Niall took a bit to answer, only this time, it wasn't a very good idea because it gave Liam more time to really think about, let it sink in that he just been saying all of this out loud, to his best friend, and it really hit him there, how much this had all been getting to him, how he was tired of feeling so beaten down yet he couldn't help it because he knew all of it was true, he had proof after all. "I'm sure it doesn't, Liam, you didn't…- hey, no. No crying, stop, Li, there's no need to cry."

"S-Sorry…" Releasing a shaky breath, Liam hadn't been able to keep these tears from spilling over, immediately having Niall jumping into panic mode, his hands flying to the older boy's face instead now, thumbs softly wiping underneath his eyes, barely being able to catch all of the wetness though. Liam was just so done with this, he didn't wanna have to feel like this anymore, it just wasn't fair at all. Why him?!

"Okay, shit, Liam… Liam, calm down, alright? Please don't cry, babe, I hate seeing you sad, I… fuck, Li, I'm so sorry you have to go through this, I wish I could switch places with you, I… " Clearly the whole situation was a bit too much for Niall, which made sense, Liam usually wasn't the one crying, he was always fairly good at holding it back, but he couldn't anymore now, not when it had been building up for this long. Poor Niall for having to be the one witnessing it, that was just another reason why Liam was an idiot, he couldn't even deal with his own problems. "Come here, it's gonna be fine, yeah? It's not true, none of it, I swear to god, you're the best fucking person I know, Liam."

"N-No, I-I'm n-not…" Once Niall had wrapped him up in his arms, Liam decided to screw it as he held onto the slightly younger boy, crying into his shoulder now, barely able to contain these sobs escaping him, Niall's hand rubbing up and down his back soothingly.

"Yes, you are. You're my best friend, I would never lie to you, Li, never. Maybe you did gain a few pounds, so what? I gain weight all the time, it happens, but it doesn't mean you're fat, I actually think you look a lot better now, you were sometimes taking it a bit too far with the work out. And the meals skipping, I was starting to worry about you if I'm being honest." That was a lie, Liam could just tell, but he couldn't stop sobbing for long enough to say anything, clinging even more desperately to Niall, probably hurting him by now. "I love you so much and I just wanna help, you gotta believe me, I would never make this up, you know me, you know me better than anyone else, Liam. Please don't do this yourself, you're amazing, so many people admire you. _I_ admire you, please believe me when I say that whatever tweet you have been reading, it was absolute bullshit. They don't even know you if they're writing crap like this."

"H-How… h-how c-can y-you…" The whole sentence was a bit too much in one go, Liam tried to find comfort in Niall's embrace, in the kisses he would place on the top of his head, his hands rubbing Liam's back and stroking his hair, another sob shaking his body as he struggled to get enough air into his lunges.

"How can I what, Li?" Niall asked quietly, not stopping his gentle touches, never making any attempts to pull away, he just let Liam cry into his shoulder and wetting his shirt.

"L-Love m-me… I-I j-just f-fuck u-up a-all t-the t-time a-and-"

"No, shhh, you're wonderful, Liam, I swear to god. Come one, let's lie down for a bit, yeah? Careful." Niall was actually doing quite an impressive job in managing to get both of them to lie down without having to part, considering how much heavier Liam was than him and all, he didn't even complain when the other boy's head ended up on his arm, in fact, he just pulled him in close until there was not the tiniest space left in between them. "See? That's a lot better. I love you, Liam, I really do and I promise we can do this together, I'm always here for you, babe."

There was nothing to reply really, Liam was just focused on containing his sobs somehow, not really succeeding at it, but there was no person he would have rather been with than Niall right now. The blonde boy let him clutch his shirt and press as close as he wanted, keeping his arms wrapped tightly around him, sometimes placing a kiss on whatever part of Liam he could reach, just letting him cry, as if he truly cared about him.

Still, it didn't change the fact that Liam opened twitter hours later, reading even worse hate on there than what he had been expecting after today.

 

————

 

Having cried to Niall hadn't been the best idea ever, especially not when Liam got embarrassed afterwards, trying to forget that it had happened, not even getting one tiny chance to though.

In the middle of the night, right when Liam had gotten ready to go lie in bed, still the same day as the interview and after Niall had been holding him for good two hours before he had had to leave to play golf with Harry, there was yet another row of knocks on Liam's door, a lot quieter ones though.

"I'm coming, one second." He yelled, rolling his eyes a little bit as he put his phone away with a slight pinch in his lower tummy. Maybe he shouldn't have searched for hate again, but he hadn't been able to help it, he had even followed some fans in order to mend this, but none of it had helped. 

No idea who Liam had been expecting when he opened the door, but he still was a tiny bit surprised when it was Niall, looking all soft and ready for bed, his hair flat and his sweatpants riding low, a grin on his face. "Hey, Payno, you okay?"

"Um… yeah. What's going on?" Well, this was slightly strange, the older boy blushed slightly as he remembered the whole crying and confessing part from before, how Niall had offered he could stay even longer and cancel the golf playing when in reality, Liam had been planning on trying to stay out of his way, because he was embarrassed of course. Seemed like Niall had a different plan.

"Nothing, just came to check on you, make sure you're alright." Then he shrugged, running a hand through his blonde hair which Liam pretended not to see, just biting his bottom lip as he waited for more, still not able to believe what Niall said and did then. "Anyways, I'm sleeping here tonight."

"You- what?" Before Liam was able to stop him, Niall had already pushed himself into the room, walking over to his bed under the older boy's stares as if though this was his own place. "Niall, I… nothing against you, just… I'm used to sleeping alone, you know-"

"Then you're gonna have to get used to not doing it anymore. Trust me, it'll be fun, we can watch a movie or something if you want, come on." There was no reason to protest, it wasn't a secret why Niall was doing this, and Liam not wanting to bring the topic back up felt slightly defeated when he simply closed the door before slowly walking over to where Niall had already taken over one half of his bed, smiling at him with a bright face, his teeth showing. "What'd you wanna watch?"

Nothing, because Liam had planned on going to sleep, maybe checking his phone for a bit, but he just shrugged anyways as he got underneath the blanket, the same one as Niall since they only had one. "You can choose if you want, I don't mind."

"Alright, let me think… " While Niall stared off into space, Liam used the chance to grab his phone quickly, well aware though that they were was barely any distance between them, nothing unusual, this was Niall after all. "Let's watch the Wolf of Wallstreet, since it's your fave and all, and I haven't even seen it yet."

"Oh… how'd you know it's my fave?" He had never told Niall that, but when Liam looked over with raised eyebrows, he got nothing but a smile followed by a kiss on the cheek that left him feeling a bit hot.

"Why would I not know that, Li? You're my best friend." Shrugging, the blonde boy somehow managed to scoot even closer until their arms were brushing, using the chance that Liam was still slightly distracted to simply snatch his phone out of his limp fingers. "I'll take that, okay? You won't need it anyways."

"Niall, you don't have to patronize me, you know, I didn't plan on… on doing anything." Feeling a slight rush of anger, it quickly disappeared again when their eyes met, Niall's face was all soft and caring and though Liam kinda hated being babied like this, he just couldn't be mad at this boy. 

"I'm not. I just wanna watch the movie with you and I don't want you to be distracted, alright?" See? The arguments he came up with were too good to talk against anything he said, Liam gave in with a sigh, sinking back against the pillow while Niall took control over the TV, pressing even closer afterwards, his head somehow ending up on the older boy's shoulder once the movie started. "I love watching movies with you, you know, you're the best one to do it with because you don't always talk during the whole thing."

"I-I, uh… thanks I guess…" Not really sure how to take it, Liam felt himself blush a tiny bit when Niall cuddled even closer, his hand somehow ending up on the older boy's stomach, just letting it rest there. Why'd he wanna touch him there anyways, he surely could feel that Liam had gained weight through the shirt, didn't he find it gross?

"Shhh, the movie is starting." Was all Niall said, the smile very visible in his voice and Liam quickly shut his mouth, trying to relax, hesitantly putting his arm around his bandmate's shoulders. Just because it seemed appropriate of course.

Later when he fell asleep like this in the middle of the movie, Liam wasn't so sure anymore whether he really liked sleeping on his own that much after all.

 

————————

 

"Hey, Li, can we talk?" Liam was just having a smoke outside their bus when Louis appeared out of nowhere, he didn't seem like he had anything serious to say so the other boy simply shrugged even though he wasn't really in the mood for it. But when was he ever in the mood lately? "Sick. Can I have one?"

"You should really consider buying your own, Tommo…" They all knew he never would, Louis just grinned when Liam handed the lighter and the cigarettes over, his mind still overplaying the last few nights in his mind. Ever since Niall had made it a habit to come sleep in his room, drooling all over the mattress and over Liam, the older boy had barely had any time to really check twitter. Then again though, he didn't need to see the hate to know that it was there. Rightfully. "So what's up?"

"Nothin', just… I talked to Niall because I was a bit worried about you, since the interview we had a week ago and all, just in general… well, he told me to ask you yourself. So what's going on, you alright? Does this have anything to do with Niall sleeping in your room?" Shit, how had everyone already noticed that?!

"Um… it's nothing, I… he just doesn't wanna be alone, you know him." Biting his tongue, Liam felt a bit bad for lying, he was thankful that Niall wasn't going around spoiling everything though, he honestly hadn't expected that. He still struggled to believe that Niall hadn't grown tired of this yet, did he really pity Liam that much?

"Well, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to." Shrugging, Louis took a puff from is cigarette before suddenly turning to face Liam, placing a very unexpected hand on his shoulder, the seriousness of his expression almost scary. It was rare that their oldest band member wasn't joking around with anything, it almost had Liam feeling slightly weird while being stared at so intensely. "Listen, if there's anything bothering you then you can talk to me, I'm aware that Niall has probably already taken over that part, but I care about you as well."

"I… okay, uh… thanks, Lou…" The urge in Liam to protest was pretty annoying, but he forced a smile onto his lips, not being able but feeling a tiny bit better, he hadn't thought any of the others would bother to offer that they'd listen. Actually, he had thought they still secretly were annoyed and pissed off at him, they'd have every right to anyways.

"No problem, we all gotta stick together, right? Hate seeing one of us being beaten down, also, Harry told me to say hi, he's off doing some yoga shit or whatever, but he was quite worried about you lately, just thought you should know." Oh. Was that true? Now Liam did feel a bit guilty for always being so grumpy and all, maybe they did care about him, a tiny little bit at least, even if his head was already trying to tell him something else. If he ignored it long enough, maybe that voice was gonna shut up for once.

"Okay… thanks again, I'm fine though." At least he felt better than he had a few days ago, Liam forced himself to smile at Louis, relieved when the older boy simply nodded before falling over into a very detailed, very fake sounding description of how he had almost made Niall cry by beating him by so many points when they had been playing footie before.

Well, and that was that.

 

——————

 

"Liam! Li, hey, wait up!" Flinching a bit, Liam barely had any time to turn around and check when there were already two arms wrapping around his middle from behind, stopping him in the middle of his way, a cheek pressing against his back for a moment. "Hey."

"Hey, Ni, I… I'm all sweaty and gross, better let go." Of course it was Niall, Liam's heart had already made a tiny jump at just hearing the voice, but now that Niall was clinging to him, making no indication of letting him go again, Liam felt a tiny bit uncomfortable. He had just been working out and was on the way back to the bus to take a shower and then take a very long nap as they would be driving all night. "Nialler, I'm serious, I-"

"You're not gross, Payno. And I know you've been working out." His arms loosened a bit, allowing Liam to turn around and face him, feeling his cheeks turn a bit hotter when Niall's soft smile was right in front of him, tilting his head a bit to kiss the older boy's cheek. He had found a habit of doing that, or randomly touching Liam like that, cuddling up to him and sometimes he'd even hold his hand. "I've seen you, you know, was looking really good, Li, you should be proud of yourself, I know you've been working out a lot more lately. Just don't overdo it, yeah? You can take a break once a while, it's good for you."

"I… I haven't been working out that much actually… " Not enough anyways, it was true that Liam didn't get so much time anymore to read all the stuff on twitter ever since Niall would sleep in his room and keep him busy, or randomly wanting to hang out all the time during the day now, but of course that didn't mean it wasn't always prominent in the back of Liam's head. "I just…. I just wanna go back to the weight I've been before and it's still gonna take a while, so…"

"Why'd you wanna go back to that? I like you much better like this." Niall was seriously pretending to be pouting now, his hands still on Liam's hips, which couldn't have been a very pleasurable feeling, surely, he could feel all the fat Liam had there and anyways, he really was gross and sweaty. "Stay like you are, Li, it's perfect like this, trust me."

"I'm not so sure about this, I just don't wanna… I just don't want people to talk about it again. I mean they still do, but…" Licking his lips nervously, Liam shrugged as he tried his best to not meet Niall's eyes, which proved to be a mistake because he almost had a heart attack when the younger boy suddenly kissed his nose. His fucking nose.

"Who cares what anyone's talking about? All I've seen on twitter was people being happy that you followed them, which was really nice of you, you're the only one committed to this and I think it's amazing." Niall could for sure see the blush in Liam's face after that kiss, but he chose not to say anything for some reason, hugging Liam once more before slowly letting go, still with a smile playing around his lips. "Is it okay if we stay on the same bus and Louis and Harry on the other?"

"I… yeah, sure." Being without Niall at night would have honestly felt weird by now, they had been keeping this up for the past few weeks and actually… Liam loved not having to be alone, he had no idea if Niall was just doing this because he pitied him and actually hated doing it, but… but not Niall, right?

"Okay, I'm gonna go in, you can have the shower, I already had one in my room." Then he stepped away, simply leaving the older boy, not pushing him or anything, he was always so wonderful about all of this, always had the right words to say and make Liam feel better. Was he just doing this because he felt sorry for him? Quite possibly, but if so, Liam still never wanted it to stop for some reason, he was getting used to this extreme closeness so easily, it was almost scary.

 

—————

 

Niall was waiting for him in the back of the bus once Liam was done showering, just lying on the big couch area they had, his arm propped under his head, other hand playing with his phone while his eyes were glued on the telly, probably some game on because barely anything could get Niall so concentrated.

For a second or two, Liam just stood there watching before his bandmate noticed his presence, just taking in his appearance, how cozy he looked lying right there, already dressed for bed, hair a complete mess, but Liam couldn't help but think that he still looked beautiful like this.

He always did, actually, the brunette boy couldn't remember any occasion where Niall would have looked anything besides perfect, he might not have had the most muscles in the band or worked out as much as they all should have or even cut back on all the junk food, yet he still looked like this.

It wasn't jealousy that Liam felt though, like sure, somewhere in the back of his mind he wished he could have been like the other lads and not having gained any weight or having that much trouble losing it, but looking at Niall like this, it got him feeling a lot of other stuff. And none of it was bad in any way.

Of course it only took a few seconds before Niall shifted a bit, his eyes landing right on Liam, a smile lightening up his face that made him even more gorgeous looking. Okay, maybe the work out had gotten Liam slightly light headed. "Hey. I really like that shirt on you, suits you."

"It's just my sleep shirt…" Liam mumbled while slowly walking closer, yet still suddenly feeling a bit weird, somehow hoping that Niall really meant it, but he was probably just saying it to cheer him up. He had made it into a habit complementing pretty much everything Liam did. "What're you watching?"

"Don't know, some game that was on… come here." The older boy hadn't even fully approached him when Niall had already shoved his phone into the pocket of his sweatpants, stretching both of his arms out towards Liam, not even bothering to sit up or anything. "I need a cuddle."

To be honest, Liam wasn't quite sure how Niall wanted to do this, he almost felt a bit taken aback now, not wanting to lie down with any of his weight put on the younger boy so he wouldn't hurt him, but it seemed like that was exactly Niall's plan. "Nialler, what-"

As soon as Liam was kneeling on the couch, about to lie down next to his bandmate, Niall suddenly wrapped both of his arms around the brunette boy's neck, very unexpectedly pulling him down so that he did in fact end up half on top of Niall, their legs somehow intertwined now, his on the boy's chest. "That's better."

"Niall, I… can I move, please? I'm gonna crush you, I-"

"Bullshit. What's wrong with you, Li? Do I seem like I have trouble breathing?" Well, no, he didn't, and Liam had no idea how Niall could want this, how he was holding on so tightly until Liam wasn't fighting it anymore because he did quite like being so close, feeling Niall's warmth through two layers of clothing and especially under his cheek, the way his hand found its way back into the older boy's hair almost immediately. Why did this feel so nice, Liam shouldn't have allowed this to happen, but… but Niall was literally forcing him, he couldn't do anything about it, right? "See? Think we both needed a cuddle."

Maybe they had, Liam wasn't sure anymore what he needed or not, all he knew was that he was just allowing Niall to baby him to an impossible extend and that he should have hated it but he didn't at all. 

The way the blonde boy's fingers would thread through his hair, then just lightly brush down the side of his bare neck, sometimes caressing his ear while his other hand was doing these lovely sweeps over Liam's back, it was just… it just felt really good. For a moment or two, the brunette boy even managed to not think about how Niall was just doing this because he felt bad for him. How he'd probably get annoyed with constantly having to try and cheer Liam up.

They stayed like this though, for quite a while, just watching the game, not talking too much, Niall's hands never stopping to touch Liam though and the brunette boy not making any attempts to move away, not even when someone came to check on them, just to see if they were there so they could get going.

The sound the bus made once moving was a nice combination to the laziness that was already overcoming them, really, Liam almost felt like he could have fallen asleep like this, since he was used to having Niall in his bed anyways. Never really like this though.

"Hey… can I ask you something?" His voice was quiet, rather low, a bit sleepy sounding, exactly like Liam felt too, it almost felt too hard to open his mouth at this point, his heart still speeding up a little at the question though. Which was bad because there was a chance Niall might have been able to feel it.

"Yeah… what?" The fact that Niall's hands were still roaming over his body helped to keep Liam somewhat calm, for once not even thinking about how disgusted the boy probably was from touching him like that.

"I was just thinking that… I know you're still thinking about these shit tweets and… am I being too clingy somehow? I just wanna help and… I kinda got so used to it, I don't even think about it anymore whenever I go to sleep in your room, just… if it really annoys you, you know… you gotta tell me." Oh, that had been a bit unexpected, he almost sounded a bit sad at the last part, and a few weeks ago Liam would have probably used the chance to get some distance, but… he didn't want to anymore now.

"No, I… it doesn't annoy me… think I've gotten used to it as well… " It just felt really nice mostly, even if sometimes Liam still had his doubts. "Just… I wouldn't want you to feel responsible for like… trying to cheer me up and stuff, I don't want that, and sometimes I feel like it's a bother and-"

"Stop it right there, Li, I'm serious. I'm not feeling responsible for anything at all, just wanna be there for you, because you mean the world to me and it hurts like shit to see you sad and beaten down." At these words, Niall tightened his arm around the brunette boy's waist, causing Liam's throat to get a bit tighter, he felt bad for sometimes doubting Niall's words, just… it was so hard not to ever since all of this had happened. Liam was aware that it had crushed his self confidence, but he could't help it. "Will you ever believe me when I tell you that I really love and care about you?"

"I… I just… I do, but… " But sometimes there were these moments when he really didn't, not now though, right now Liam almost felt at ease when they were lying like this, all tangled up in each other, the telly on behind them, the sounds the bus was making while driving, Niall's warmth, his familiar smell, his tender touches. It was easy to feel somewhat alright as long as they didn't move. "I … I just feel so stupid for it, you know? And… it's so hard to not let it get to me and then… then I feel like I'm not even worth anyone trying to cheer me up because it's my own fault anyways and I could just lose some more weight and be less of an idiot, I don't know… "

"You are worth it though, Li, always. And you don't have to do anything at all to deserve it either and especially not something dumb like losing weight when you really don't need to. I would love to punch anyone who ever told you that, I will if I ever find out, promise." It sounded like he really meant it, Liam almost lifted his head at this point, but was stopped when Niall pressed a really big kiss on top of it, his fingers curled into the hair in the back of Liam's neck now, giving him goosebumps all over. "You're perfect, babe."

"I'm not p-"

"You are to me, can't argue with that, Payno, can you?" Well, Liam could have tried, but his cheeks actually felt a bit hotter right now and he was glad they weren't looking at each other, just shutting his mouth for once, trying to let himself relax under Niall's fingers dancing over his skin, enjoying the warmth filling his stomach. "Told you. I love you."

This time, Liam didn't do anything but sigh, he didn't want to hurt Niall, in case he was being serious about this, because he really did appreciate everything this boy did for him, letting his eyes fall closed under another kiss. "Love you too… "

"Thanks." The smile in his voice was very noticeable, Liam had stopped saying it back for a while, simply because he hadn't thought Niall could love him anyways, but it felt different now after lying here like this for so long. "D'you wanna sleep in my bunk tonight? I want you to."

"I… I don't think we'd both fit." And this had only partly to do with the hate, but Liam seriously was positive that they wouldn't both fit in there together, not really wanting to get up either.

"Of course we would, Li, don't be silly, yeah?" Niall petted his back softly before rubbing up and down again, his other hand playing with a few pieces of Liam's hair behind his ear, making him unnecessarily tired. "I do think that it's too far of a way to get there though, and also, it's way more comfortable here, I could go get a blanket."

Almost immediately, Liam held on tighter to the boy, feeling embarrassed a second afterwards as Niall laughed softly, letting Liam feel the vibrations going through his body since the side of his face was smushed right against his chest. God, he needed to stop blushing over everything, this was just Niall. "I… okay, alright."

"You sure you'll be okay if I go, mate?" Niall joked and Liam rolled his eyes, slowly moving to sit up though, immediately feeling cold once they could look at each other again, a grin plastered all over Niall's face. "I'll be right back, don't go anywhere."

"Where'd I go?" It was an honest question, they were on a freaking bus, Liam was rubbing his cheek where he was sure there was a print of Niall's shirt, looking down a bit when the blonde boy just laughed, smacking a kiss on his forehead before leaving.

Somehow it was hard to deal with the fact that Liam suddenly enjoyed all of this so much more, that Niall's touches seemed to feel more intense, yeah they had always had something special, but… never like this.

Liam wasn't gonna complain though because he didn't want it to stop, even if he felt weird at times, even if he sometimes doubted Niall's words and actions. Maybe it'd just take time for him to be convinced, maybe the blonde boy really meant it, right? Maybe he really did love and care about Liam this much.

When the younger boy came back with a proud smile and a blanket, Liam had almost fallen asleep by himself, with the game still on, but Niall almost forced him to go back into their original position, making sure they both were covered this time before he wrapped his arms around the brunette boy, pressing his face into Liam's hair. "Just go to sleep if you're tired, yeah? Goodnight, Payno."

"Night, Ni… " Liam almost only breathed out, it was just too comfortable and Niall smelled so good and he was soft and his touches felt too nice to fully stay awake any longer. No one could blame Liam for nodding off within a few minutes really, with his face pressed into the younger boy's chest, their bare feet and legs knocking against each other underneath the blanket, not a single centimeter of distance between them. 

 

——————

 

Liam's slightly changing feelings towards Niall became even more prominent during the next few days.

They didn't even change anything about what they had been doing for weeks now already and yet Liam started to feel different about it. Like that one time, they were all watching a movie together and Louis not so subtly pointed out that Niall had fallen asleep on Liam's shoulder, drooling on his shirt, and Liam hadn't found anything wrong or gross about it at all, just feeling glad that he was the one Niall had chosen for a nap.

What really did cause Liam's tummy to do a flip though was when he came back from having his hair cut by Lou at one point, a little worried as he glanced down onto his phone to see what Niall was tweeting, everything about the same hashtag. 

Finding the boy wasn't too hard, he was in the hotel lobby, just hanging around by himself with a few crew members scattered over the place. Niall however, seemed to have enough reasons to smile about by just staring at his phone.

"Ni… what's this about?" Just to make sure he immediately knew what Liam meant, the brunette boy was holding up his own phone with Niall's twitter page open, an uncomfortable feeling settling in his stomach. This seemed to be too much of a joke as to be true. "Why would you invent a Liam appreciation day?"

"'m not, babe." Was all Niall said, his face brighter than the sun as he sat up a tiny bit in the arm chair, reaching out for Liam with one arm. "C'mere."

"But you-"

"It's not coming from me, Li, I'm just taking part, look." Now that was confusing, Liam ignored the sparks he felt when Niall grabbed a hold of his hand, pulling him to sit down next to him, squeezed together onto the tiny chair, Niall's legs just naturally moving over Liam's lap for more space. "See? I didn't start it, the fans did, it was trending even before I started to encourage it. Nice hair by the way, I really like it."

"I, uh, thanks, but…. but why would they do that?" Liam could honestly not believe it, he had been trying hard to stay away from twitter lately, Niall helping greatly with that, but as he watched the blonde boy's phone now, seeing all the things the fans were writing, all the pictures they were posting of him because they found he looked good in them had his heart swelling a bit. Wow… did that mean that what Niall had been saying about it on twitter was true as well?

"Because they love you." Niall shrugged, as if it was that simple, smiling when their eyes met before pressing a quick kiss onto the older boy's cheek, chuckling softly afterwards, his fingers brushing lightly over the skin he had just touched with his lips. "You're blushing…"

"I'm not… " Trying to sound angry but not being able to, Liam couldn't help but pull his phone out once more, just to make sure this was real and that Niall wasn't bullshitting him or anything.

But he wasn't, he really hadn't started this, and though the blonde boy's tweets about it were Liam's faves, he couldn't help but smile like a dumb idiot while looking at what everyone else was saying too, barely even noticing how Niall leaned away from him for a second, really, he was too caught up with the tweets as to react quickly before the younger boy had already snapped a picture of him. "Perfect, they're gonna love this."

"Niall, you… you can't post that." Oh god, had Niall just gotten a picture of him smiling all stupidly while reading all of this, he couldn't look good from that angle, actually, lately he always looked like crap in every picture and anyways, he probably looked like he had a ton of weight more and-

"Too late, Li, just wanted to let everyone know how happy this just made you. Look at the replies, there's not one mean one in there." It was hard to be angry about this when Niall was looking at him like this and when they were sitting so close, almost on top of each other, so Liam sighed before doing what he had been told, getting more than just positively surprised. Since when had everyone gotten so nice on twitter? 

"I… I don't get why they would be doing this, I didn't… I didn't even do anything or so." Really, Liam had just been trying to stay away from it all, he hadn't even met many fans or so, maybe a few, but that had been it, yet still this was happening and it hadn't happened to any of the other boys because Liam would have known. 

"I think they noticed that you've been down a little bit, and trying to stay away from the social media stuff. Plus, I've seen some of them saying that it was because of what happened a few weeks ago, that they were hoping it wasn't getting to you because they hate seeing you sad. And that's in their own words, not in mine, but I fully agree." Niall let his head drop onto Liam's shoulder, reading all the tweets with him, somehow ending up hugging the older boy's arm to his chest while Liam was still too blown away to properly react.

Never ever would he have expected something like this to happen, he had no idea how to feel, sure, this was filling him with warmth and it was so nice to see all these things and read them, but… it just wouldn't fully sink in, like… he didn't even deserve any of this, but yet they were here doing this and though Niall was encouraging it, he hadn't forced anyone to it. "I… I can't believe they are doing this… "

"But they are, Li. I always told you it's just a few idiots writing the hate, but look at the millions who are saying all these things now, they really do love and appreciate you. And I do as well." He finished, his lips pressing onto Liam's shoulder over his shirt, bringing him a little bit off track, his heart beat increasing slightly as he felt Niall's warm breath through the fabric. "I got a work out session now, come to my room afterwards? I'll text you."

"I… yeah, sure, I…" A little surprised by Niall suddenly having to leave, Liam felt more disappointed if anything, he knew it'd only be for like an hour or two, but it was always really hard letting Niall go lately.

"Good. Do me a favor and keep on looking through the tweets, yeah? I like when you're smiling like this, suits you." Again, this wasn't helping to keep Liam from blushing, but Niall's laugh was really soft anyways as he moved to get up, leaving the brunette boy feeling slightly cold once he was gone. "See you in a bit, yeah?"

"I… Ni, wait." Without really thinking about it, Liam had leaned forward slightly, grabbing a hold of the blonde boy's wrist to keep him there, slightly embarrassed about what he was about to ask, but… he just needed to know. "Did you, um… did you mean everything you said on twitter?"

Niall had said a few blush worthy things, but the picture he had posted of them that no one had ever seen, which mostly was because they had been slightly tipsy and Niall's lips had been smushed against Liam's cheek, was the one that had gotten to Liam the most. Or actually, the caption underneath.

For a moment, Niall got very serious as Liam's fingers slipped from his wrist, almost having him gulp a little bit as the younger boy leaned down to where Liam was still sitting, using one arm to support himself, their faces way too close for a normal conversation. "Every single word."

And then he was probably aiming to kiss the brunette boy's cheek but his lips somehow ended up in the corner of Liam's mouth, causing all the air to leave his lunges at once, his brain empty when Niall stood back up with the usual smile on his face. 

"See you in a bit, Payno." He just left like that, leaving Liam with a dropped jaw and wide eyes, his whole body full of goosebumps, suddenly feeling more than just hot. They had just almost kissed, it surely had been a mistake, but what was more worrying was the fact that Liam really wished that they would have actually done it.

It took him more than a few minutes to cool down a little bit again once Niall was gone, his heart still bumping fast, butterflies almost going crazy in his tummy as he brought his attention back to his phone.

Almost unconsciously searching for Niall's twitter again, Liam pulled up said picture once more, reading the caption a few more times, just to make sure it really was there for everyone to see, along with his other tweets telling everyone how much he loved Liam, how important he was to him, how he couldn't live without him.

Yet still, that one caption struck Liam the very most to a point where he almost felt an urge to screenshot it, just to make sure it'd never get deleted.

 

_@NiallOfficial: im really loving this hashtag guys ! this boy is my soulmate, no idea what t do without him, keep it up, m gonna shower him in kisses from all of you if you do #LiamAppreciationDay_

 

The word soulmate and the promised kisses maybe went a little bit too far over the usual bromance things they sometimes played up for the fans, but… somehow Liam couldn't help but getting more excited about it than he should have.

Niall had meant it after all, he had said so, right after almost kissing the older boy's lips.

 

—————

 

It seemed like ages until Niall finally texted him even if it only were about 50 minutes, the boy always managed to somehow get Mark to finish his sessions early. Not as if he needed to work out anyways.

Liam hadn't done anything at all during the time he had been alone except for reading all the tweets like Niall had wanted him to, making sure to let the fans know how happy this made him, because once it had sunk in, it really did make him smile for real, for a while forgetting about all the hate.

And then of course, there were still Niall's tweets too and the pictures of Liam he had commented, it would've seemed like exaggerations had he not confirmed that it was the truth before, with that serious expression on his face, right before killing Liam with the kiss to the corner of his mouth.

But it had surely been a mistake, right? And what about the soulmate thing? 

"Niall, you in here?" The hotel room door was a crack open when Liam got there, slowly walking inside, making sure to close it after himself as he scanned the room for a second, a bit disappointed when he didn't see Niall anywhere.

Turned out that his worries were unnecessary.

The blonde boy came out of the bathroom a second later with just boxer shorts on, drying his hair a bit with a towel, half his upper body flushed from the shower, his nakedness more distracting for Liam than he would have liked. For Christ's sake, he had seen this boy naked too many times, had caught him wanking at least five times, there was no need to look at him like this now. "Uh… hi."

"Hey." Niall didn't seem to notice Liam's stare, or maybe he was just choosing to ignore it, a smile on his face as he threw the towel onto his bed even if his hair was still damp, immediately coming over to where the brunette boy had frozen in place. "You good?"

"Yeah… yeah, I'm good, really good actually, I…" Then he randomly broke off when Niall didn't stop but rather moved to wrap his arms around Liam's neck, pressing his half naked body right up against the older boy's. Okay. 

"I'm glad you are. Do you finally believe me now when I'm telling you that there's no need to change yourself in any way because you're perfect already?" His breath was hitting Liam's bare skin, his brain feeling kind of empty once he placed his hands on the younger boy's bare hips, feeling his warm flesh underneath his palm, the way Niall seemed to curve his body right into Liam's. Shit. 

"I… I don't know, I just… I still can't believe it… " Yeah, that seemed like a somewhat appropriate answer, Liam almost felt out of breath a little bit, not only because of Niall only being in boxer shorts, but also because of how tightly he was holding on, how well his head seemed to fit onto Liam's shoulder, even if he was getting his shirt all wet with his damp hair.

"You should believe it though, Li, they wouldn't do this for no reason, would they? And if it helps, I've never seen so many inappropriate captions under shirtless pictures of you, the good kind, also under the pictures you thought were the reason for the hate. It's not true, it were just some jealous twats, nothing more." Niall wasn't making this up, Liam had seen that too, to his surprise, he just felt really confused now, like, he had been starting to accept all the hate and now… now suddenly it turned out that he had had no need to?

"Maybe… maybe they just wanna do this for all of us, and they're just starting with me now, maybe tomorrow-"

"No, Liam, trust me, they won't. And if they do then I won't participate for any of the other lads." Well, there Liam's somewhat normally colored face went. "Only for you."

"I-I… thanks, Ni…" If anything, the blonde boy was pressing even closer, they had been hugging for minutes now, none of them making any intentions to let go and Liam also felt no need to, he loved feeling Niall's bare skin underneath his palms, loved having him clinging to him like that. 

"Don't thank me, Li. Remember when you did the Mrs. Horan thing and you told me you chose me because it wouldn't feel weird or anything with me but it would if it had been any of the other lads? It's like that. I wasn't even really thinking when I tweeted all the stuff, I would have done it even if you hadn't been beaten down because of what had happened, it wasn't to cheer you up, it was just… the truth, ya know?" Well, that changed things a little bit.

"So… the caption underneath the picture… you know, the picture of the two of us… " There was no need to keep on stumbling over his words like an idiot, Niall had posted literally only one single picture of them together, but Liam just needed to ask about it, he hadn't been able to stop thinking about it ever since Niall had left.

"Yeah. Who else would I call that, Liam? Seriously, who else would it be if not you?" The younger boy luckily caught on right away, his voice sounded firm as he answered, tightening his arms even more if that was even possible, suddenly pressing his warm, soft lips right where Liam's shirt had slipped a bit, mumbling against his bare skin. "I love you so much, you know? More than anything in the world."

Liam's stomach felt like it was doing gymnastics after this, he felt the tingles down his spine, accidentally holding on even tighter onto Niall's hips, probably hurting him by now, but he just couldn't believe that he was hearing this, that Niall sounded so damn serious about it. As if he didn't mean the usual 'love you' they would all say to each other all the time, as if he meant the soulmate thing in the one way Liam was suddenly desperately wishing for.

He had no idea what was wrong with him when he tried to bring some distance between them until Niall lifted his head, arms still around Liam's neck, confusion written across his face as their eyes met. Well, that was until Liam's shifted down to his pink lips, completely turning his brain off.

No idea when Liam had started to develop these kinda feelings for his best friend, maybe he had had them all along and all it had taken had been a bit more of what they had been doing through the past few weeks, or everything Niall had done for him, the older boy wasn't sure what it was exactly, all he was certain about was that he wanted to kiss his handmade. Right here and now.

So he did.

It was a gentle kiss, slow, not pushing anything, Liam just barely moved his lips against Niall, feeling overwhelmed by the fireworks exploding in his brain, how wonderful Niall's mouth felt on top of his, holding on tighter to the younger boy's narrow hips, fingers digging into his flesh.

And before Niall would have had any time to fully react, the older boy had already jerked back, shocked by his own actions as he thought about how he should have asked for permission, how Niall probably didn't even like him back, how he had just been trying to cheer him up, how his imagination had most likely fooled him. Shit. "Ni, I… I'm so sorry, I didn't… I shouldn't have, I was just… "

The biggest part in Liam was expecting the blonde boy to push him away in disgust, he actually had no idea how Niall would have not done that, because why would he like Liam like that anyways? To his surprise though, Niall's arms never moved from where they were around his neck, a sweet smile forming on his face that had Liam's eyes widening. "Shhh, why stop now?"

"W-What?" Had he just really said that? But… but how could he? Was he still doing this out of pity? Would he allow Liam to kiss him just to make him happy?! "I… what do you mean, I… "

"I meant kiss me again, if you want to. I wouldn't mind at all." His fingers were lightly tugging at Liam's hair, giving him goose bumps, even more when the younger boy leaned in a tiny bit closer, until his breath was almost ghosting over Liam's lips. What the hell was going on?! "I really like you, Liam. Have for a while actually, even before any of this has happened, just didn't think you'd feel the same."

"You… what?" What the hell?! Was this really happening, was he REALLY saying all of this? "But how… how could you like me like that? I… I'm not-"

"Don't. Don't say anything mean about yourself now or you won't get to kiss me again until you apologized." It sounded like a joke but Niall's voice was quite serious, they were still standing in the middle of the room, holding onto each other, not being able to get any closer even if they had wanted to. And Liam felt like he had just fallen right into a dream. A very good dream though. "I just like you, okay? You're funny and caring and so fucking sweet, and even if you keep on denying it, that's not gonna change how I feel about you. I love you, Liam, I really do, and I'd do anything to make you believe me. You know me, I wouldn't lie about something like this, never." 

"You… really?" Maybe it sounded dumb as Liam breathed the question out, this just seemed to be too good to be true, how could Niall have ever loved him like that? And since so long already?!

"Really." Then there was another one of Liam's favorite smiles, that he couldn't really appreciate to the fullest though because he was just so confused and at the same time so hopeful that his fingernails were digging into Niall's flesh now, heart bumping fast as he stared into those blue eyes. "Now… can you kiss me again? Please?"

How could Liam have denied Niall that wish? He still wasn't exactly sure whether he could believe this or how any of this could possibly be real, but when Niall softly pulled his head down closer to his, fingers fisting into Liam's hair, his sweet breath hitting the older boy's face, he just pushed all these doubts aside.

It was so much better this time, Niall let out a gasp as Liam kissed him a bit too eagerly, having no time to go slower though because the blonde boy was clinging to him even more desperately a second later, his jaw dropping immediately, welcoming Liam's tongue into his mouth as he sighed lowly, almost painfully pulling at his hair now. But it still felt good somehow.

Kissing like this was something Liam hadn't done in ages, especially with someone who he was so crazy for, it felt so intense now, their tongues moving against one another, just grabbing onto the other boy in whatever way possible, both breathing hard as neither of them was ready to pull away.

When Liam's head hit the hard door though, they maybe should have considered taking this a little bit more slowly, but it was so hot to kiss Niall and it felt so bloody good and so right, Liam never wanted it to stop, he just kept on grasping onto Niall, loving the way the younger boy's fingernails would scratch over his skin as they snogged. Really dirty too, actually, Liam could barely contain the low moan escaping him as Niall thrust their hips together, making it clear that he wanted this as well and all the older boy was thinking was just _NiallNiallNiall_ , his heart bumping way too fast at what was about to happen. He just wanted this boy so badly, wanted to touch him everywhere and kiss him and-

"Niall, you gotta get ready!" And then this happened.

Since they were snogging very frantically against the door, they immediately jumped apart in shock when someone knocked rather loudly, both of their breaths going more than just hard as they stared at each other for a moment, Liam's lips feeling as swollen and red as Niall's looked like. "I… I'm coming… one second!"

"Ten minutes." It was one of their bodyguards, no doubts, they were about to be driven to the stadium for a concert, Liam had almost forgotten about it due to everything. And now he wanted to punch the wall for not being able to finish this. 

"Wow… that was… amazing." Niall started after a few seconds of trying to get some air into his lunges, a very breathless giggle escaping him when Liam couldn't help but smile, despite the fact that he was now gonna have to go on stage while being half hard and with Niall's taste in his mouth. 

"Agreed…" Liam whispered as the younger boy came back in closer, curling one arm back around Liam's neck, curving into him when Liam's found its way around his waist. "Wish we had more time… "

"Me too. But we have the whole night, right?" Then with another soft peck, Niall stepped away with a short chuckle and a wink, giving Liam a really good sight of his half naked back sight as he left him by the door, still trying to catch his breath. How could any of this have really happened? 

"Yeah…" Was all Liam brought out, barely audible though, his eyes glued onto the blonde boy going through his bags for clothes now, he couldn't believe that someone as gorgeous and perfect would ever like him or want to kiss him, be with him in this way. But what reasons did Niall have to lie like this? He couldn't be making this up, it was impossible, for whatever twisted reason, he really did seem to love Liam just like he was, even if it was fucking insane to think about.

That was surely gonna be the longest concert of their whole entire lives.

 

——————

 

It actually turned out to be one of the best ones yet.

After they had managed to somewhat get themselves together a little bit and stop giggling and holding onto each other before climbing into the van with the other lads, they still somehow managed to stay close to each other the whole night long.

Harry commented on the twitter thing shortly before they went on stage and Niall of course decided to embarrass Liam, pressing a kiss onto his cheek before telling their bandmate how much of a good idea it had been, how much Liam deserved it, and the older boy tried his hardest not to blush too much in front of Harry. Of course, that was an impossible task.

During the show, Liam made sure to thank the fans for it once more, because despite the fact that he was still slightly unsure, it had helped him massively, maybe not as much as snogging his irish bandmate before, but he couldn't say that of course.

What he could do though was making sure to stay close to Niall, touch him at any chance possible, just having a laugh with him, barely able to stop think about the blonde boy for just one single second. He was just so gorgeous and perfect, he had so much energy during concerts, trying his very best every single time, how had Liam never noticed how bloody amazing this boy was?

The moment they stumbled into Niall's hotel room hours later, they were both excited, full of energy from the show, yet still barely able to let go of each other for more than a second. It was actually a miracle that Niall managed to kick the door shut with his foot, fingers curled tightly around Liam's as he pulled him further into his room.

"That was literally amazing, I'll never get over how big the crowds are every time. Absolutely insane." Niall's face was flushed, sweaty, blonde hair sticking to his forehead, but his eyes were glowing and his lips curled into a smile as he stared up at Liam, his free hand softly stroking up and down the older boy's arm.

"I know… it's unbelievable how lucky we are." Especially today, Liam thought, considering what the fans had done on twitter for him, how all of this had somehow lead to him being here now, finally able to see how hopelessly in love he was with the slightly younger boy standing in front of him. "I'm so glad I get to experience all of this with you…"

"Me too, Payno, me too…" He chuckled, but the look in his eyes was fond as Liam's arms wrapped around his waist once more in order to pull him closer, barely able to think of anything except for how much he wanted this boy. "I feel like you wanna kiss me really badly right now."

"Maybe…" Liam felt slightly caught, shrugging a bit as Niall laughed, leaning in a bit closer but not pressing their lips together just yet, almost forcing Liam to suppress a very embarrassing whine. 

"There's one condition though… " The back of his fingers stroking down Liam's cheek wasn't helping him very much to react to that, but he just nodded anyways, not really thinking about it, trying his hardest to not stare too obviously at Niall's lips. "You gotta promise me something before we do anything at all."

"What?" It wasn't like Liam didn't know where this was leading, but his mind was way too caught up with how beautiful Niall was right now, even if he was sweaty and flushed and they were both a bit gross from the show, there was still nothing more Liam wanted than to be as close as humanly possible.

Not answering immediately, Niall smiled first of all, almost killing the older boy with a soft kiss to his jaw, breath hitting his bare skin, automatically causing his arms to tighten around Niall's waist. "If you ever start to feel this bad again, you come to me and we talk about it. You'll never try to shut me out again and you cannot doubt it when I tell you that I love you. You're absolutely amazing and I want to make sure you know that, this is how I truly feel and it'd kill me if you would ever think I'd be saying or doing anything just to cheer you up. I need you to promise me that you're gonna trust me, because I only want the best for you and I always will."

For a moment or two, Liam almost hesitated. He had gotten so much better thanks to Niall, and especially today had really contributed to that, but of course, some tiny doubts were still left, even after everything, it was just hard to fully get rid of them.

When he looked into the boy's blue eyes though, still holding him tightly, almost feeling their breath mixing from how close they were and thinking about everything they had been through together, all these years they had been best friends, had told each other everything, all the nights they had stayed up together when they had been x factor roomies, the late night calls whenever they had been on break… Liam just couldn't NOT trust this boy with his life. Of course he was speaking the truth, of course he hadn't lied to Liam during the past few weeks, how could he have? This was Niall, Liam's bloody _soulmate_ in the younger boy's words. And it had only taken them so many years to get to this point.

"I promise, I trust you. With anything." Niall seemed to be more than just relieved after that, maybe it had been Liam's slight hesitation, but he had wanted to make sure that he really meant it. Everything that had happened had maybe blurred his sight a tiny bit, but looking into Niall's face now quickly washed away these doubts. "I love you."

"I love you too, Liam." There was a huge grin, not enough time for Liam to answer though because one second later, Niall's lips were pressed on top of his and nothing else in the world mattered anymore.

If any possible, that kiss might have even been better than the one before, just because they had somewhat talked this through now and because they knew they had all the time in the world, all fucking night if they could last that long.

Liam automatically stumbled backwards when Niall pushed him gently with a hand on his chest, never parting his lips from the older boy's, their mouths wide open, tongues sliding wetly against one another, both of them breathing heavily already before the back of Liam's knees even hit the mattress.

When they collapsed on top of each other, their mouths slipped apart, leaving both of them a giggling mess as they somehow tried to hold onto each other. "Oops… that always looks a lot sexier in movies."

"You just rammed your elbow in my stomach." Which was true, but it hadn't hurt that much, Liam wouldn't have been able to be mad either ways, he was on his back now with Niall hovering over him, his smile impossible not to return. 

"I'm sorry. Want me to kiss it better?" Before Liam could answer, Niall had leaned down again to fit their mouths together once more, more slowly this time, but still in a way that sent tingles all through Liam's body, helplessly grabbing onto the younger boy's arms to keep him closer. 

"If you … want to." Honestly, for a moment Liam almost panicked as he thought about undressing in front of the younger boy, but then their eyes met and Niall giggled, pressing the messiest kiss to Liam's eyebrow before half sitting back up.

"Anything for you, babe, think we're gonna burn up anyways if we keep on these clothes for any longer." Well, he was right, it surely was bloody hot in here, not only because of the concert, yet Liam's eyes still went a bit wider when Niall simply slipped his own shirt off, throwing it carelessly onto the floor, his chest glistering with sweat as he leaned closer again. It was honestly the hottest thing Liam had ever seen. "Now to you… "

"Should I-"

"No, no, stay on your back, like this." The smirk got Liam's heart beating a bit faster, but really, whenever he was the tiniest bit nervous, Niall would simply wash these worries away with a soft kiss or a smile that had Liam's breath hitching for a moment. He just trusted him so much, nothing would ever be embarrassing with this boy.

When Niall pressed their lips together once more, Liam was a bit disappointed because he didn't deepen it, quickly making up for it though as he continued to kiss down Liam's jaw and neck, gently sucking on his skin while his fingers slipped underneath the hem of his shirt, shoving his up a bit until the older boy's stomach was exposed, barely leaving him any time to get cold though.

"God, you're so gorgeous, Li, so fuckin' attractive, can't believe you would ever doubt that." His words caused Liam to blush, not as much though as Niall's lips pressed against his sweaty and overheated skin did though, placing a kiss on his belly button, breath tickling Liam for a moment before he went lower, over his happy trail and then down to his jeans. "You alright?"

"Y-Yeah… " It was more than just sweet of him to check up on Liam, his hand now hovering helplessly over the younger boy's head, breath hitching as Niall kept the kisses up, sucking a love bite onto Liam's hipbone, which immediately went to his groin of course. Fuck, how embarrassing was it exactly that Liam was getting hard from just this? "Niall… come… come back up here…I wanna kiss you." 

The blonde boy took a second or two, pressing his lips onto the spot he had been working once more before lifting his head with a grin. "Can't turn that down, can I?" 

Kissing Niall like this was hotter than anything else to be honest, they deepened it immediately as soon as he had crawled back up, fitting himself between Liam's legs as the older boy spread them a bit, their bare skin pressing against each other now, slightly sticking together as well, getting Liam hot at the thought that they had so much more clothes left to take off.

The older boy's shirt was riding up a lot higher during their make out session, which was the last thing on Liam's mind really. He was way more focused on touching Niall all he could, rubbing a hand down his back, pulling his damp, sweaty hair, grabbing onto his biceps, all while trying not to moan too embarrassingly loud when the younger boy literally fucked his tongue into Liam's mouth, rubbing their clothes groins together in the dirtiest way possible.

No idea what gave Liam the courage to try and roll them around, but he just wanted Niall so fucking much, wanted their stupid clothes off _right now_ , very pleased when the blonde boy complied fairly easily, arms immediately going to wrap around his neck, not even having to break the kiss.

Now that Liam was a bit more in charge, he kept one hand next to Niall's head on the mattress to support himself, using the other one to shove his shirt up higher, even if that was barely necessary anymore, getting a whine out of Niall that he felt in his bones as he pulled away. "One second, just… "

"Hurry." The younger boy urged, chest heaving as he watched Liam sitting up a bit to fully expose his upper body, not even thinking about it anymore, especially not when Niall used the chance to make quick process with his belt and the button and zipper of his jeans. "C'mon, Li… want you… "

Shit, they weren't even gonna last five minutes like this, but Liam couldn't have cared less anymore once he had gotten rid of his shirt, feeling overheated as he leaned back down to press his mouth on top of Niall's, not able to help the groan that escaped him when Niall simply slipped a hand into his now open jeans, cupping him through his boxer shorts. Fuck.

The kiss got a lot messier, partly because they were both running out of breath, but also because Liam had a hard time not thrusting against the boy's hand as he rubbed him in a painfully slow way, eventually causing Liam to moan loudly into his mouth before turning his head away. Having Niall fondling him like this was just too much, Liam was gonna bust if they didn't do anything soon. "Shit…. shit, Niall, can we… "

"Yeah… yeah, c'mon… " Niall looked well up for it, his face was all flushed, panting against Liam's mouth as he moved his hand out of the older boy's jeans, instead starting to pull them down with his boxer shorts, only low enough to free his erection, obviously not wanting to wait long enough for them to fully get nacked. Well, Liam approved of that. "Fuck, Li… you're so fucking gorgeous… "

Despite the situation, Liam still felt himself flushing a bit, pressing a quick, very wet, peck onto Niall's lips before getting to work at the boy's jeans, not wanting to be the only one with his already throbbing dick in the open air. He couldn't bloody wait, he hadn't been this intimate with anyone in a while, so all of this added up the to the excitement as much as the fact that he was here with no one else but Niall, the most fucking beautiful and best person Liam had ever met. 

As soon as he had Niall pants open and the younger boy had lifted his hips slightly to help Liam pulling them down, Liam almost couldn't contain himself anymore, he could barely force himself to not get his hand around Niall's dick, wet with precum and very obviously just as hard as his just from a bit of snogging and rubbing against one another.

Instead though, Liam lied back down on top of the younger boy, their lips immediately finding each other again, the intensity of it all increasing since now they were both fully shirtless and well… let's just say, Niall helped immensely by wrapping his legs around the back of Liam's, both of them hissing at the first touch. It was so mind blowing really, Liam could've probably just come from the feeling had he not desperately tried to hold back in order to drag it out a little bit.

His lips were almost hurting by now as they started kissing again, as far as that was possible, because once Liam started thrusting against Niall, their bare erections rubbing against each other, trapped between their bellies, the blonde boy clung to him immediately, letting out a high whine against Liam's lips, his fingernails digging so hard into the older boy's skin that it almost hurt. In a good way though.

The glide was wet and easy thanks to both of them already having been turned on as hell, but it was not enough for Liam yet. After having built up a somewhat steady rhythm, Liam pushed a hand between their bodies, grabbing a hold of the both of them to create even more friction, literally fucking into his own fist now and against Niall's dick, very clearly not only bringing himself closer to the edge.

"F-Fuck, Li… f-feels so g-good… s-shit…. " Niall's eyes were pressed closed, kissing had become impossible by now, they were just panting against one another, both a fucking mess of moans and sweat, precum creating a mess on their bare tummies, nothing audible in the room except for their heavy breathing and the wide glide of their erections in Liam's hand. "'m g-gonna…"

"M-Me too… h-hold b-back a s-second… " Liam was so fucking close when Niall's breathing got a bit panicky, his fingers gripping hard onto Liam's biceps for support, a rather load moan escaping him as he obviously tried to hold off, not being able to anymore after a few more thrusts before he spilled over Liam's hand and both their upper bodies.

Looking down and seeing Niall come, watching his fist wrapped around the both of them was enough to send Liam over the edge as well, his cum mixing with Niall's as he kept on thrusting a few more times while riding out his high, not being able to hold back his moan consisting only of the younger boy's name.

Afterwards, their breathing was still going hard, Liam felt so fucking exhausted, he just basically collapsed on top of the younger boy, face pushed into his sweaty neck, eyes closed as Niall's arms wrapped loosely around his shoulder, both ignoring the mess they were lying in. Holy shit.

"Can't believe… we did that… " Niall had trouble catching his breath, his laugh was short but it still sent goosebumps down Liam's spin, a grin forming on his face when the boy's face pressed into his hair. "Love you so much… "

"Love you too, Nialler… thank you for… for everything… " Honestly, Liam didn't know what to say, he just hoped Niall knew how thankful he was, not only for what had just happened but for everything else he had done, for being there, for just being himself. But most of all… for loving Liam even through all of this. 

"Don't, Li… 'm just so fuckin' happy now… this is what I wanted… all along and… for you to be alright again and… you're just so amazing and I… I love you so much, I really hope you… you know that now." Since they both were so exhausted and at a lack of breath, it was hard to have a conversation, but Niall's words still caused Liam's heart to swell, he sounded so genuine, there was no way he could've made any of this up and Liam finally realized that as well. " I never… wanna let go of you again…"

"Don't." Liam wouldn't have minded in any way, he was just so overwhelmed with love for this boy now, not being able to believe that it had taken him so long to see, that he would have ever doubted Niall's words or actions. He didn't care that they were gross and sweaty, he never wanted to let go either, just wanted to keep his face pressed against Niall, breathe him in, feel his arms around him, the way he would sometimes press lazy kisses into Liam's hair. "I… I haven't felt this happy in ages… "

"Me neither… " Niall let out another chuckle, it almost sounded a bit hyper and Liam understood him very well, he felt quite giddy himself, but also very much at peace inside. It'd probably take a bit to get used to all of this, but no matter what, he was sure that with Niall by his side, he'd be able to get through anything, he just needed this boy and nothing else in the world. If only he had seen this much earlier, but better late than never, now he couldn't fucking wait for what else there was to come for them. "Everything's gonna be fine now… "

And for the first time since all of the troubles had started, Liam really did believe Niall. Everything was gonna be fine.

**Author's Note:**

> just wanna say i chose to take the prompt bc liam hate does get to me sometimes and idk, i think itd be great to have a liam appreciation day happening


End file.
